Silhillians 2nds 25

Kings Norton 33

A DEPLETED Kings Norton travelled to Solihull for a friendly with a Silhillian 2nds side.

Norton's player problems soon worsened as centre Pete May pulled his hamstring in the pre-match warm up forcing Derek Whitehouse - father of fly half Ken - into action.

With just eight minutes on the clock, centre Matt Eagles created the first opening for the Hopwood side when he cleverly broke through to set up Jamie Clayton. But the outside centre was stopped short of the line by a last ditch tackle.

Norton's makeshift pack kept the pressure on their opponents and seven minutes later Ken Whitehouse made use of Dave Ellis's long pass to jink through and score which he also converted in front of the posts.

Sill's briefly took the lead as they slotted a penalty and scored a try but the Norton backs were in rampart mood.

It was the younger Whitehouse again who put Clayton away with a storming break and received a return pass to score and convert his second try of the match.

Kings completed their first half as Derek Whitehouse's 30-yard break set up winger Pete Noonan before Ken Whitehouse slotted over his third conversion.

Sills rallied soon after the restart and scored a penalty before Kings prop Karl Thompson strolled through a massive gap in the Sills defence to touch down for the easiest try of the afternoon.

Sills managed two more scores to bring them within one point of Kings but with just a minute to go Matt Eagles crashed over which Clayton converted.